Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Existing Regulations and Marine Zoning

Jack Curlett Sanctuary Advisory Council Lead

Shallow Water Wildlife and Habitat Protection Working Group

Steve Werndli FKNMS Staff Lead

Goals of this Presentation

Review current resources and status: • Objectives for this Working Group

• Habitats and resources

• Why were areas originally designated

• Existing Wildlife Management Areas- regulations

• Management Issues and Responses

Objectives

• Evaluate existing Wildlife Management Areas for effectiveness

• Develop recommendations considering existing regulations and zoning to further protect seagrass and critical shallow water habitats in FKNMS.

• Address concentrated uses that diminish or destroy habitats

• Identify where high impact activities known to occur should be allowed

• Identify seagrass and shallow water habitat areas for exclusion to allow for research control areas

• Evaluate mangrove habitat protection for bird nesting. • Reduce damage to natural resources from improper

vessel salvage methods.

Marine Zoning Action Plan

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary & Protection Act (1990) • Develop a management plan and form Advisory Council • Use of temporal and geographic zoning

Management Plan, Zoning Scheme, and Regulations (1997) • Sanctuary Preservation Areas (SPAs) • Ecological Reserves • Special-use Areas (Research Only) • Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) • Existing Management Areas

Current Wildlife Management Areas

Minimize disturbance to especially sensitive or endangered wildlife and their habitats.

• bird nesting, resting, or feeding areas • turtle-nesting beaches • sensitive habitats

Access restrictions • no-access buffers • no-motor zones • idle-speed only/no-wake zones • closed zones • Some restrictions may apply to time

periods, others to areas.

27 in the Sanctuary • 20 inside & co-managed with the USFWS • 7 outside of USFWS

Study Area & Map of Zones

Tropical Hardwood Hammock

Photo: Nancy Diersing

Photo: Nancy Diersing

• Critical habitat for many plants

• Food, cover, roosting, and nesting sites for a wide variety of wildlife

• Critical habitat for numerous species of special concern

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

• Nursery grounds for many fish and invertebrates

• Vital to coral reef habitat

• Carbon storage decreasing effects of global warming

• Stabilize the seafloor preventing erosion

Mangroves

• Nursery for commercially important juvenile fish

• Habitat for crabs, shrimp, birds, and reptiles

• Carbon storage decreasing effects of global warming

• Provide nutrients to neighboring habitats like seagrass beds and coral reefs

• Stabilize the shorelines preventing erosion and protect against hurricanes

Beaches and Dunes

• Critical habitat for many species of special concern

• Nesting areas for turtles and many birds

• Plants stabilize shorelines to prevent erosion

Resources

Photo: USFWS

Photo: USFWS

Idle Speed Only/No Wake

• Bay Keys • Cayo Agua Keys • East Content Keys • Eastern Lake Surprise • Lower Harbor Keys • Marquesas Keys • Mud Keys • Snipe Keys • West Content Keys

Operating a vessel at a speed greater than idle speed only/no wake is prohibited.

No-Motor Zone

• Bay Keys • Big Mullet Key • Cotton Key • Cottrell Key • Dove Key • Marquesas Keys • Rodriguez Key • Snake Creek • Snipe Keys • Tavernier Key

Using internal combustion motors or engines for any purposes is prohibited. A vessel with an internal combustion motor or engine may access a “no-motor” zone only through the use of a push pole, paddle, sail, electric motor or similar means of propulsion.

No Access Buffer

• Crocodile Lake (3/1-10/1) • East Harbor Key • Horseshoe Key • Little Crane Key • Little Mullet Key • Marquesas Keys • Marvin Key • Pelican Shoal (4/1-8/31) • Upper Harbor Key • West Content Keys

Entering the area by vessel is prohibited.

Closed

• Boca Grande Key • Dove Key • Horseshoe Key • Mud Key • Sawyer Keys • Woman Key

Entering or using the area is prohibited.

Photo: Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge

Resource Management Issues

• Degradation of seagrass habitat

• Loss of mangrove habitat

• Loss of shallow (< 10 m) Acropora and Montastraea corals

• Human activities impacting shorelines

• Decreases in biodiversity

Photo: USFWS

Resource Management Responses

• Implementation of Water Quality Protection Program

• Marine zoning has been used to protect sensitive habitats

• Organized shoreline clean-ups and debris removal projects

• Restoration of vessel grounding sites

• Establishment of permitting and enforcement programs

• Designations of critical habitat

Marine Zoning in FKNMS

Working Group Resources

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Marine Zoning and Regulatory Review: floridakeys.noaa.gov

Maps, Data, and GIS Resources: http://ocean.floridamarine.org/fknms_zone_review